AGP 7800GS vs 7600GS - Worth the price?

[Lightweaver]

Hey folks,

I'm upgrading what will be my wife's PC (currently using a GeForce 5500FX on an ASUS A7N8X board).

My goal is to do this fairly inexpensively so I'm stuck with the AGP slot.

Purpose of the card is to possibly allow her to play NWN2 decently and WoW with a little higher framerate.

I've located these two cards that seem like good candidates:

eVGA 256-A8-N542-TX Geforce 7600GS 256MB GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail

eVGA 256-A8-N506-AX Geforce 7800GS 256MB GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail

My question to you all the experts is: is the extra $130 for the 7800GS worth that much? I don't mind paying the extra if it is going to net me a significant performance gain but if the benefit is minimal I'll pass.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Stumps]

what cpu are you using, by the looks of it, it is an Athlon XP, getting a 7800GS would probably not be worth the added cost unless you have something around an AXP 3000+ or better.

The 7800GS is considerably faster than a lowly 7600GS, however it will be badly bottle necked by the AXP cpu.

 

[Stumps]

I should mention that even a 7600GS is miles faster than your current 5500FX, so it would be a considerable upgrade just by getting the 7600GS

 

[theprodigalrebel]

The AGP 7600GT will be a better investment than the 7800GS (seems overpriced but I see some mail-in rebates these days)
If the X1950 Pro DOES make it to AGP, then you might have options.

A friend of mine has an AGP 7600GS (with an A64 2800+ and 768MB RAM). It makes for a decent gaming system: as long as you are playing at 1024x768 with no or 2XAA and don't mind turning somethings down to Medium.

He plays F.E.A.R at the following settings:
1024x768 with 2XAA, 4XAF.
Everything set to high except Volumetric Lights & Textures (which are set to medium) and Shadow Detail set to Low. In the inbuilt-test, I remember it never went below 25FPS and actual gameplay feels very smooth. If you can sacrifice a little IQ, not bad.

Battlefield 2 plays fine at most things set to High, except Textures, Lighting & Shadows set to Medium at the same res and AA/AF.

I can't really imagine how performance would be with NWN2 but WoW should be easy for it.

As for recommendations, I just noticed the 7600GT AGP is out of stock at Newegg. Will it ever be back in stock?
I also just noticed 7800GS is now for $200 (AR) and the 6800GS for $165 - both by BFG. With rumors of X1950 Pro making it to AGP, I will let some of the other forum gurus make a concrete recommendation.

 

[Blurry]

Don't wait for the x1950 Pro. It will be 300 MRSP when it comes out. Get the 7800GS or a used 6800/U/GT/GS and overclock it. It will be your best bet for now.